If you think you ’ve seen and done everything above ground in Milwaukee , then you need to start thinking below . MKE ’s underground is full of interesting spaces , including some you may rent , tour … and even bowl in . Here are some of the city ’s most intriguing ( and creepy-crawly ) underground spots .
Lake Emily
There ’s a small lake on old maps of MKE just ashore of Lake Michigan Downtown . When urban development embark on building up the business district domain , instead of draining Lake Emily , the Northwestern Mutual edifice at Wisconsin and Cass was built on top of it . The immense logarithm stilt were driven into the lakebed and still support the building today . The urine point is exert by the edifice ’s facility team , because if the log dry out , they ’ll rot and the building will fall . The only glance of Lake Emily now is through the small holes used for checking the water level .
UWM Utility Tunnels
Many bookman at UWM have probably heard rumors of a internet of tunnels under the school campus , and they ’re pretty much all true . The tunnels , construct in 1968 , connect the various schooltime building with the central heating and chilling plant . There are miles of tobacco pipe that lam through them , carrying steam to heat the buildings and other utility . The burrow were visit and repaired in 2010 , so students can attempt to erupt into them for many year to amount ( not that we , uh , commend this ) .
Miller Brewery Caves
If you ’ve take away the free Miller Brewery tours , then you ’re already conversant with these caves . They were carved out of the bluff in 1850 , and when Frederick Miller started his brewery on the site in 1855 , the cave total with the exist facility . Miller decide that the cave were ideal for lay in his beer during the summertime to keep it coolheaded , line the cave with blocks of methamphetamine hydrochloride . There were more caves primitively , but all but the largest have been seal ( and we do n’t recommend sample to sneak in ) . you could even rent the infinite out … who would n’t require to be gazed upon by the Miller High Life girl while they get espouse ?
Shaker’s Cigar Bar Basement
Fans of the paranormal are likely already familiar with Shaker ’s Cigar Bar . The building sits on top of an old cemetery , an eight - year - old miss buy the farm when she fell out of an orchard apple tree tree diagram on the property , a prostitute ( ofcoursethe building used to be a bawdyhouse ) was slay in the penthouse , and two man were reportedly hit in the cellar of the building during prohibition . Every part of this construction is profoundly creepy , but it ’s the basement that even some employee turn down to go into . If you ’re curious , you may reserve a circuit and research the basement , its history , and the rest of the construction too .
MMSD Deep Tunnel
tempest drains and sewer tunnels crisscross the city , but there ’s an even bigger tunnel lurking beneath our foot : the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District abstruse burrow . This controversial subway was build in the ' 90s at an median profundity of 300 ft below ground . It ’s genuinely massive , with a diam of 17 to 32 ft , and it can hold hundreds of trillion gallons of water . It was designed to prevent sewage overflows into Lake Michigan , which have decreased , but have n’t stopped wholly .
The Rave’s Pool and Basement
Though most Milwaukeeans know The Rave as a concert venue of dubious caliber , the building start out out life story as the home of the Fraternal Order of the Eagles in 1927 . Back then , it was kind of like a social golf-club and YMCA all rolled into one , include a swimming pool and bowling alley , plus a basement service program expanse underneath it all . The pool and basement are still accessible , and there ’s plenty of rumors that touring rock stars demand to check them out . Mostly though , those who visit are ghostwriter hunters looking for cheap thrills from deep orbs , unexplained atmospheric static , and speculate whisper .
Calvary Cemetery Chapel Crypt
The chapel in Calvary Cemetery hides a crypt below ground . It was long block when the chapel service was closed for decades , but rediscovered when the construction underwent renovations in the ' ninety . It has 45 place , all of which were signify for the sepulture of MKE ’s Catholic clergy , but only one priest was ever swallow up there , a Father Tarasiewicza , who died in 1903 . Why was no one else buried here ? Who cognize .
Downtown Steam Tunnels
It may seem archaic , but many of Downtown ’s buildings are still hot up with steam . It ’s all produced by the We Energies Valley Power Plant just to the south of Downtown . Those steaming brick stacks you pass off on the I-94 bridge deck over the valley ? That ’s the plant . The steam is carried to the Downtown buildings it heats through pipes underground , which you’re able to see above ground in one maculation : inside the arch over Canal St under the freeway . The system then proceeds underground – including under the river – to Marquette , the Milwaukee Art Museum , MSOE , and its many other customer .
Havenwoods State Forest
The land that is now Havenwoods State Forest in the north of the metropolis has a historied history that includes a stint as a County House of Corrections in the early 1900s , Army disciplinal barrack for prisoners of war , and a Nike Ajax missile site in the ' fifty . It ’s no wonderment then that there were tunnels dug under the park . While many of these had steam piping , but it ’s not known when or why a lot of the tunnel were built . In the Army al-Qa’ida days , it ’s likely tunnels connected barrack and other building with the Commandant ’s construction . Do n’t get any urbex thought , though : any tunnel that have n’t already been sealed or destroy are occupy with asbestos .
Holler House Lanes
The cellar of the Holler House on MKE ’s southside holds a ( not - so - hidden ) mystery : the oldest sanctioned bowling lanes in the US . Just head down the stairwell line with bowling trophies and check out the original wood lanes from 1908 . If you partake , you ’ll have to keep score yourself … and do n’t forget to tip your pinsetters .
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Courtesy of Miller Coors
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